The Adoptive Parent Toolkit: Packing for China

I’m writing about packing for a China adoption trip over at The Adoptive Parent Toolkit. This post could apply to any adoption trip though. Well, maybe not Ghana, since the shopping there wasn’t quite as readily available. We learned that one the hard way.

I’m a carry on only kind of packer. Joe is not, but since I packed FOR him when he went to get Bowen, that’s the route he went then. You can read about how I packed for Cate’s adoption trip here. When we go to get Gigi, we’ll be going minimalist again. This time, we won’t need to go back to Beijing to have our new kiddo checked out medically and cleared to fly. So, we’ll be traveling into Shanghai, on to Nanjing (via train) and then down to Guangzhou (via an in-country flight). To get home, we’ll fly out of Hong Kong. If any of you reading this have made that journey, or one similar, I would LOVE to hear your tips!

Tell me all about it!

–FullPlateMom, who is getting VERY excited.

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Although we haven’t traveled for adoption, we lived in Nanjing for four months last fall and traveled to Shanghai several times. The high-speed train is fast and comfortable. If you are planning on spending a day or two sightseeing in Shanghai, we can recommend a cheap, modern comfortable hotel. If you’re in Shanghai, leaving from the Shanghai train station is more convenient than the Shanghai Hongchiao station. If you’re traveling light, it is easier to take the subway from the train stations in Nanjing. I prefer the Nanjing train station because it’s closer to the city center. In Nanjing, If you want to sight-see, I recommend the President’s Palace, the Confucious Temple area for boat rides and shopping, there is a great traditional garden. The Ming tomb (Mingxiaoling) is also very interesting. There is a great Wal-Mart in the Xinjiekou area that has great diapers, wipes, snacks, clothes, food, etc. Xinjiekou also has a Toys-R-Us that sells great V-tech toys that talk in Chinese. If you’d like more suggestions or have questions, please feel free to email me.

I fell over your blog and and literally accidently hit this post. Got toto the the end, saw your send out to anyone whose done that trip and thought may as well.

I lived in SH as a child and have had many trips back and forward from Australia.. I lived in NJ for a year in the early 2000s and have also been back there many times. I know live 2 hours south of GZ (with my husband and 4 year old) and travel to and from GZ and HK a couple of times a year.

I’d be happy to chat to you about on the ground stuff if you think it would be helpful.

I lived in Shanghai from 2003-2014, so happy to help if you need it — (and I speak Chinese). Find a Carrefour (Jia Le Fu in Chinese) and they will have whatever you need as far as food, diapers, toiletries, toys, books, sippy cups, etc.

Any medicines you may need will be at a pharmacy, including may items that need a prescription in the US.

For kids clothes, I stick with international brands at stores because they have quality control and the fake market clothing has been found to have high quantities of dangerous chemicals. Cheap and OK quality options for kids clothes in Shanghai that they may have in Nanjing too are Uniqlo (a Japanese brand — many locations), Okaidi (a french brand in the bottom of the Kerry Parkside Mall) and H&M (many locations). Shoes/sneakers are very expensive in China and I would wait to the US to buy these if you can.

E-mail me anytime to let me know what you need help finding and maybe I can help.

I would also pack a lot less clothes than your list. I just spent 10 days in China with one dress, one cardigan, and about six bottoms and 8 tops and I did not wear about 25% of it. My kids did the same trip with six outfits each (including what they wore on the plane) — again too much.